Story of the Wildkatz
Wendy initially thought about starting her own class about 3 years ago after finding herself with a couple of spare evenings through no fault of her own. She was very aware that there was a real need for a properly structured beginner class with a high standard of tuition. After discussing it with her husband they decided that if they were going to start a class they would make the best job of it they could, as a result they set about planning the formation of Wendy’s Wildkatz. They had both been around the line dance scene for a number of years and had been to many clubs and functions as well as weekends away, this served as an invaluable source of knowledge that they could draw on during the planning stage.
Before any teaching could begin where, when and how needed to be decided, ‘where’ needed careful consideration so, “before searching for a venue the criteria needed to be set, we wanted somewhere easily accessible, preferably on a bus route, in a well lit area and with a car park. We also thought it would be nice if it had its own bar so we were really looking for a social club. We eventually decided on the Watford Irish Centre which also has a sprung dance floor, when approached the committee were very receptive to line dancing being held in their club” said Wendy, “we had found our venue”.
The Irish Centre was free on two evenings, Tuesday and Thursday, after taking into account a number of factors, some of which included seeing the grandchildren Wendy and her husband settled on Tuesdays.
How the class would run and the way it would be structured was down to Wendy, she had been to a number of different classes in the preceding years and the standard of teaching varied enormously. Wendy says “If people take the trouble to come to our class I wanted to give them value for money this meant me gaining a recognised instructor qualification”. As a result Wendy joined the BWDA2000 she felt there was a real benefit from having the backing of a recognised body behind her, they were able to offer insurance, PPL and instructor training. The decision to take the instructor qualification was a conscious one, after all, the aim of Wendy’s Wildkatz is quality, structured tuition for dancers. Wendy says “beginner dancers are the future of line dancing and it’s all too easy to frighten people off on their first visit by trying to teach a totally unsuitable dance. Then rushing through a number of intermediate type dances to display what can be done and hopefully kindle an interest, when all that’s achieved is an instant state of panic and fear as they leave their first class never to return”.
The where, when and how had been established so with help of Wendy’s friend Sandy Dakin (who had been a professional dancer appearing in the theatre and films) helping on the dance floor and Adrian, Wendy’s husband who acts as DJ, musical director, publicity manager, roady and general dogs body Wendy’s Wildkatz were ready to go.
“Our first evening had us nervously waiting to see who would turn up, we had no idea of the numbers to expect. From experience we knew that in our area some classes had 40 or 50 dancers while others struggled to attract half a dozen, how delighted we were when 28 dancers turned up. Since then the class has steadily grown and now see’s regular attendances in excess of 75 dancers” said Wendy.
“As well as our regular Tuesday nights we also run social events when it’s our dancers chance to let their hair down, dress up and have fun dancing to live music. Last year we had Johnny 2 Step, Gemma Fairweather and Maria Lee for our socials. This year we have booked The Texas Tornados, Haydens Country, Glenn Rogers, Maria Lee and Speedlimit. We try hard to ensure our dancers have a great time and organising socials is our opportunity to say thank you to our dancers and let them show how far they’ve come since those first hesitant steps” Wendy commented.
Wendy’s Wildkatz has built up quite a reputation in just over 12 months, dancers of all levels come on a Tuesday evening and the word is spreading far and wide. The Wildkatz were invited to work with Gerard Naprous at his Wychwood Stud rodeo weekend last Easter. Gerard and his team known as The Devils Horsemen are Europe’s foremost equestrian stunt team with hundreds of film credits to their name.
In October Wendy was interviewed about line dancing live on air by LBC Radio’s James O’Brien and invited him to come along and try it (he has yet to take her up on her offer). Wendy did get to teach a grapevine on radio and enlightened James to the fact that not all line dancers are middle aged would be cowboys enjoying a second childhood.
Throughout the year Wendy’s Wildkatz had adopted the local hospitals Special Care Baby Unit as their chosen charity just through raffles at social events raised £530 which was presented to them at the Wildkatz Christmas party. Wendy and the Wildkatz have decided that the chosen charity for 2007 will be Watford’s Peace Hospice, Wendy said “we wanted to keep our charity fund raising local and both the hospital and the hospice could be relevant to us all”.
Christmas saw around 40 of the Wildkatz have their Christmas meal at Chiquita’s Mexican restaurant in Watford, they all dressed as cowboys and took over the centre of the restaurant much to the amazement of other diners. “In 2007 we will try and do something similar at Christmas and hopefully we will be able to find a venue where we can have some real dancing” said Wendy.
January 2007 saw the Wildkatz first birthday and former world champion Johnny 2 Step came along and taught two nice little dances Baby Blues and Mega Mambo. “This was Johnny’s second visit and our dancers love to see him” said Wendy.
In February Wendy, Sandy and Adrian went to the George Mitchell School in Leyton East London after being invited to demonstrate and teach Line Dancing to 300+ students up to year 10, as an alternative form of fitness. “The students were fantastic and a lot of them asked if we could recommend a class locally for them to go to” said Wendy. Following the school visit Wendy was contacted by Mercury FM Radio and asked if she would do an interview about Line Dancing as a fitness pastime. The interview lasted around 15 minutes and clips were played in local news bulletins throughout the day.
“With so many new dances coming out and classes trying to keep abreast of what’s new it’s a pity that some of the older classic dances are often missed by new dancers as beginner classes often fail to teach them, consequently when newer dancers attend festivals and socials they can miss out on doing these classic dances. In conjunction with the choreographer Nigel Payne we decided to hold Saturday morning workshops to teach classic line dances, around 40 dancers booked their places and thoroughly enjoyed the sessions” said Wendy “we will certainly be doing something similar in the future”.
Wendy is also the resident line dance instructor at the YMCA Woodlands centre near Watford and the Ruislip Conservative Ladies Line Dance Club which meets on Mondays and Thursdays which is a private club open to members only.
The Wildkatz team are only too aware that without the dancers there would be no Wildkatz and that they must not become complacent or take their dancers for granted. “We want those kind enough to come to our classes to feel that they’ve had a good evening, been entertained and learnt something in the process” said Wendy’s husband Adrian “I always had a feeling that Wendy would be a great teacher, I am so proud at what she has achieved the least I can do is give her all the help and support she needs”.
Wendy said “Seeing a hall full of people dancing something that you’ve successfully taught is really satisfying and knowing they’ve enjoyed the evening makes it all worth while”. When asked what the future holds? Wendy replied “We will continue what we’re doing and try our hardest to keep our dancers entertained, choreography doesn’t feature in my thoughts at the moment and as for starting new classes, you never know”!